LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Gervon Dexter Sr. is only 23 years old, but his role on the 2025 Chicago Bears is one far beyond his years.

Half of the Bears’ defensive line entering this season is new, with both Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo joining through free agency this offseason. Veteran pass rusher Montez Sweat joined the Bears via trade midway through Dexter Sr.’s rookie season in 2023, making the latter both the youngest and the longest-tenured players on Chicago’s projected starting d-line.

“I think I’m learning to be a leader,” Dexter said after the Bears’ mandatory minicamp at Halas Hall on Wednesday. “I mean, there are different ways of leading. When I watch Montez, he’s leading in that way. I’m following him. Now we have Grady Jarrett who can lead by example and vocally.”

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Not long after Jarrett and Odeyingbo signed with the team in March, Dexter invited his new teammates to join him and Sweat in Miami for a workout session. For Jarrett, who at that point had yet even to step foot in the Bears’ practice facility, it was already an indication of who Dexter is as a teammate.

“I thought that was a big gesture for him to invite me to hang out with them,” Jarrett told the media at Halas Hall on May 21. “I think that’s been good for our relationship even before we got in the building, and that just showed his willingness to try to take that next step.”

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Dexter, who started 15 games in 2024, made major strides to emerge as a crucial piece to an already-strong Bears defense. His 33 solo tackles were the 15th-most out of 219 NFL defensive linemen, while his 19 quarterback hits put him in the top five among tackles.

“Just from afar, having called plays against him, he’s a guy that really came on last year,” head coach Ben Johnson said of Dexter on Wednesday. “You could see it on the tape. There was growth. There was more production, particularly in the pass rush game.”

Before he became a pro, Dexter was studying two guys who now happen to be his teammates.

“It’s crazy that I’m playing with both of them now,” Dexter said of Jarrett and Sweat. “Grady is one of those guys, as well as Montez … I would turn on some of those guys’ tape before high school games just to see.”

Now, Dexter is impressing the ones he used to watch and learn from, who believe he’s earned the right to call himself a leader.

“Dex is a leader on the D-Line. He’s a leader on this team,” Sweat said on May 21.

As he enters his third year, Dexter understands what he has to do to embody the role his teammates trust him with.

“I would say (I’m) just growing up, you know what I mean?” he said. “It’s just taking that next step into doing some of those things — trying to step up and be the guy.”